-----Original Message-----
My original post regarding the incident at the Bangor Airport disputed Nancy Oden's contention that she had been tagged by a computer search as a Green Party opponent of the bombing in Afghanistan: "I was targeted because the Green Party USA opposes the bombing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan."
In all of the flurry of news releases denouncing this as a sectarian plot by the Green Party of the United States, which yesterday received FEC recognition, to undermine its tiny rival, the GPUSA, which had tried to block the FEC decision, neither Nancy nor the other GPUSA publicists offered any other explanation for the incident. They insisted the FBI had tagged her as a Green and so prevented her from boarding the plane.
Given the implausibility of this explanation, some Greens admittedly gave greater credence to the version given by airport staff and security. On Nov. 4 Jeff Russel, who is with airport security at Bangor International Airport, said, "Ms. Oden's version of events, while certainly exciting, are far removed from reality. We are unaware of any role Ms. Oden's status as a Green may have played."
There are 46 organizations identified on the terrorist list for the new USA Patriot Act, none of them domestic. Other domestic groups had been identified as so-called "terrorist" groups in a May 10, 2001 FBI report by Louis J. Freeh on the "Threat Of Terrorism to the United States," but were not connected in any way with foreign-sponsored acts of terror, but simply with anti-globalization vandalism:
"Anarchists and extremist socialist groups -- many of which, such as the Workers' World Party, Reclaim the Streets, and Carnival Against Capitalism -- have an international presence and, at times, also represent a potential threat in the United States. For example, anarchists, operating individually and in groups, caused much of the damage during the 1999 World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Seattle.
All Greens, socialists, and others oppose this characterization of these groups as terrorists, however much we may disagree among ourselves on the tactics of any particular group, and we all oppose any attempt to revive McCarthyism, blacklisting, or witch-hunting in any fashion. We all support the basic human right of freedom of travel, and no one I know in any way condones the profiling or unwarranted searches of flight passengers, regardless of their political affiliations.
Some of us did and still do insist that Nancy Oden's statement "I was targeted because the Green Party USA opposes the bombing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan." was incorrect and irresponsible.
Paul Prior, a Web publicist with GPUSA, maintains in reference to my post: "Obviously, the writer below had no evidence for claiming 'It now does not appear that her connection with Greens/Green Party USA had anything to do with the harassment at the airport'. The only way we could ever know that is to see the FBI database ourselves."
While I doubt that is going to happen any time soon, it should still be the practice of the government to announce changes to any list of suspected terrorist groups, domestic or foreign, and if that is no longer true, then civil liberties are in worse shape here than anyone suspected. The actual attacks on the rights of habeas corpus by imprisoning hundreds of alleged "material witnesses" are enough to demand the concentrated resistance of all democratic constitutionalists and civil libertarians, and we do not need to muddy the situation with assertions that go way beyond the facts.
In the last few days more of the details about the actual events in Bangor, Maine, have come to light, partly in interviews given by Nancy Oden herself. As a NYC supporter described the interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now: "I heard Ms. Oden on Democracy Now this morning (Amy Goodman interviewed her by phone) and she explained what happened to her at Bangor airport: ...She gave her name and the ticket agent apparently immediately recognized it and did not ask for additional identification;"
Democracy Now describes Nancy Oden as an "organic farmer in Maine and part of the Northeast Resistance Against Genetic Engineering." Nancy apparently is relatively well-known through accounts in the local media, particularly the Bangor Daily News. In particular, an incident in 1999 had brought her to the attention of law enforcement.
One story about the incident, involving destruction of a genetically modified corn field, "Vandals hit modified corn at UM" from the Bangor (Maine) Daily News on August 20, 1999 p. B1 is posted on the web at http://www.tao.ca/~ban/899maine.htm "Environmental activist Nancy Oden of Jonesboro said Thursday that while she did not destroy the plants, she commended those who did. 'I'm glad they did it,'' Oden said during an interview at the Bangor Daily News offices. 'It may not have been legal, but it was the moral thing to do.' ... In an Aug. 16 e-mail sent to other activists and also sent to the NEWS, Oden gave explicit directions to the location of the cornfield...."
Confirming what I posted about this, GPUSA's Paul Prior of New Mexico, pointed out on Nov. 6 that, "The truth is, Nancy Oden has been a target of Monsanto and just about everybody else for years. They had her targeted for an 'ecoterrorist' long before this war."
Whether or not her name was known to the FBI, it is certainly familiar to the authorities in Maine, and the association with the corn field incident may be the precipitating cause of her victimization. It certainly does not appear that her connection with Greens/Green Party USA had anything to do with the harassment at the airport, but it does seem that her other activities had brought some unwanted attention. Needless to say, freedom of travel is a fundamental human right, and whatever interest Monsanto has in all this, political activities should not bar anyone from being able to exercise their rights.
Viva la Causa Verde!
Walt Contreras Sheasby